Conflict, Security & Development Research Group (CSDRG)

CSDRG undertakes a wide range of research, policy, advisory, and teaching activities related to conflict, security and development, enabling it to serve as a true bridge between academic scholarship and real world decision-making in these fields.

Democratization and UN Peacebuilding

Led by Dr Oisin Tansey this ESRC-funded project examines the relationship between peacebuilding and authoritarianism and the ways in which peacebuilding shapes authoritarianism at the local level.
The project runs from June 2018 - May 2021 and will give timely focus to four case studies: the DRC, Haiti,Cambodia, and Liberia. Tansey (Principal Investigator) works alongside Co-Investigators Dr Sarah Von Billerbeck and Birte Gippert.

Mapping the Taliban

Funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CSDRG's Ashley A. Jackson runs a fieldwork-intensive research project exploring the Taliban and communities under their control. Based on interviews with noncombatants, local Taliban members, and senior Taliban leadership, this study offers insights into their views on peace talks and the prospects for postwar reconciliation and justice.

Track II Mediation Unit

This unit combines the research group's core scholarly strengths with diplomatic experience to contribute to international attempts to prevent and resolve intractable intrastate conflicts. While this diplomatic work is deliberately discreet, the unit has enjoyed significant success in shaping international attempts to foster peace processes. Under the purview of CSDRG director Professor Mats Berdal, the work is directed by Tom Hill (formerly special assistant to Kofi Annan) and funded by the Peace and Reconciliation Section of the Royal Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

Winter-Spring 2020 Newsletter

The latest CSDRG newsletter is out now. Catch-up on all our latest news, publications, and research.

New report: Insurgent Bureaucracy: How the Tailban Makes Policy

New report published by the United States Institute of Peace, facilitated by CSDRG and co-authored by CSDRG's Ashley A. Jackson and Rahmatullah Amiri, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The report examines how the Taliban makes and implements policy in Afghanistan, based on more than a hundred interviews as well as unique access to Taliban documents.

CSD Journal

Conflict, Security and Development is an academic, peer-reviewed journal that bridges traditional development and security studies and provides analysis of the critical policy challenges facing countries in the Global South. Enquiries should be directed to csdjournal@kcl.ac.uk.

Select Recent Publications

Berdal, Mats (2018) "What are the limits to the use of force in UN peacekeeping?" in de Coning, C. & Peter, M. (eds.) United Nations Peace Operations in a Changing Global Order (Palgrave Macmillan) p. 113-132.